Bethany Charlotte Firth, (born 14 February 1996) is a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

swimmer. Since 2014 she has competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

; previously, Firth had represented

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. A six time

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

gold medalist, she has won gold in her specialist event - the 100 metres backstroke - for both Ireland at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

and Great Britain at the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

. These were in addition to the Mixed 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay S14 at the 2020 Games, and 200 metres medley and 200 metres freestyle for Great Britain at the 2016 Games, where she was the nation's most successful Paralympian with three golds and a silver medal. She competes in the S14 classification for athletes with an intellectual impairment.Bethany Firth
. rio2016.com

Personal life

Bethany Charlotte Firth was born on 14 February 1996 in

Seaforde Seaforde is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Naghan,County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland. Her father Peter is a teacher and former church minister, and her mother Lindsey is a

nurse practitioner A nurse practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice registered nurse and a type of mid-level practitioner. NPs are trained to assess patient needs, order and interpret diagnostic and laboratory tests, diagnose disease, formulate and prescribe m ...

. She is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

and is a member of Christian

Fellowship Church Fellowship Church (FC) is Baptist Evangelical multi-site megachurch located in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, that is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. FC's lead pastor has been Ed Young since its opening in 1989. Hi ...

. Firth was educated at Longstone School in Dundonald. Firth has a learning difficulty that causes

short term memory loss Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use o ...

. She therefore competes in the S14 classification.

Swimming career

On 31 August 2012, Firth, competing for

in her first Paralympics, won a gold medal at the 2012 Paralympic games in London in the S14 100 metres backstroke final while representing Ireland. Firth, who has learning difficulties, had been swimming for only three years. Firth won three silver medals at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships. Later in the same year she announced her intention to switch national team and swim for

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

instead of Ireland after serving a period out of competition, as "Team GB has other S14 swimmers – who have learning disabilities – with whom she can relate." The following year she represented

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

, competing in seven events against non-disabled athletes. In March 2015 Firth broke the world record for the S14 100m breaststroke in qualifying for that year's IPC World Championships. Firth failed to compete in the World Championships after suffering a fractured wrist in training just a few days before the competition. On 26 April 2016, in the qualifiers for the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

in Rio, Firth set a new world record in the S14 200 metres freestyle. Competing at the British Para-International meet in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, she recorded a time of 2:03.70. On 8 September 2016, Firth defended the title that she had won in 2012 in the S14 100m backstroke, for the 2016 Summer Paralympics at

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. She did this, winning in a world record time of 1:04.05 whilst competing for Paralympics GB. She also won gold in the women's 200m freestyle S14, and the women's 200m individual medley SM14, and silver in the women's 100m breaststroke SB14. At the

2020 Tokyo Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralympic ...

, Firth defended her title in the 100m backstroke S14 and also won gold in the mixed 4 x 100m freestyle relay S14. In addition, she took silver in the women's 200m freestyle S14 and women's 200m individual medley SM14. Firth was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to swimming and promoted to

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

, also for services to swimming. She has also received an honorary

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

from

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

in 2017.

Recognition

She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2019.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Firth, Bethany 1996 births Living people Female swimmers from Northern Ireland S14-classified Paralympic swimmers Paralympic swimmers of Ireland Paralympic swimmers of Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Ireland Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Northern Ireland Swimmers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Officers of the Order of the British Empire BBC 100 Women People from County Down Christians from Northern Ireland

Personal life

Swimming career

Recognition

See also

References

External links